'Shock Artist' Could Get 25 Years for Offending Federal Prosecutors

The first two times the Justice Department prosecuted fetish filmmaker Ira Isaacs for obscenity, the trials ended without a verdict. The third time proved to be the charm on Friday, when a Los Angeles jury rejected his argument that his work has redeeming artistic merit and convicted him on five counts related to films featuring scatology and bestiality that he sold online. "I'm an artist," he testified, "and my stuff is art because I say it is. Art is what artists do." That is pretty much what I was taught in college, but the jury didn't buy it. The self-proclaimed "shock artist" faces up to 25 years in prison for offending federal prosecutors and grossing out 12 jurors.

Previous coverage of the case here.